This month has been full of surprises - certainly the miraculous hand of God!

First of all, we have randomly and very unexpectedly run into a number people we previously prayed with, which was no doubt God building upon His calling for them on a personal level. Some were caught off guard, perhaps as a reminder by God that they haven’t been taking Him as seriously as they initially started to, while others welcomed the opportunity to learn more and share the wonderful things that have happened in their lives since they were water baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Various tradesmen that have come by the house have been keen to hear Don’s testimony — excited to learn about “real” experiences with the Living God versus the shallowness of their church upbringing. Of course, most of the time, it has been Don’s efforts in stepping out in faith to start a conversation about God. But, this willingness to “step out of the comfort zone” seems to break through the hard outer shell and cause even tough guys to open up about their struggles. It’s very touching to see. Most recently, we got to pray with a lovely older tradesman that came to give us a quote on our gutters.

Then, of course, there are the opportunities that consistently come about during grocery shopping. The most recent was at Trader Joes while there was a stunning double rainbow sitting over the store. A storm had just passed, and as various shoppers stopped to admire the bow, Don would ask them if they knew the true meaning of the rainbow. The last lady he asked happily replied that she did; that it relates to God’s promise to Noah and his family in the Bible. This opened up a great conversation, and after hearing about some of our ministry experiences, she was keen to accept Don’s offer to come back to the house to pray with all of us. She received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and was excited to receive our encouragement to pray in tongues as much as she can every day, and to go in faith that all things are possible with God. She had already been water baptized unto Jesus about seven years ago and attends a mega church with literally thousands of others each week, but she had never experienced the true power of God in her life until the other night when we all prayed over her.

Finally, during a week-long conference, we met quite a number of other Spirit-filled believers who also love to pray in the Holy Spirit every day, and we were able to share with them some of what we do for the Lord (always emphasizing that we don’t take any money for it, but rather, we do it in obedience and out of love for God and for helping to save souls!).

We even had the privilege of praying with a couple of different ladies who had yet to experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit. One of the ladies texted us not long before we were planning to leave the conference center. She said she wanted what Don had been describing to her because she had been feeling something missing in her relationship with God for many years. So, although we were exhausted, we knew we had to put God’s work first, so we stuck around the area to wait until she was available. We met her outside her hotel in the parking lot and prayed right there in a quiet corner, and she received! She was so happy.

The other lady we met after we felt moved to change location from where we initially sat to eat a very late lunch. As Don brought us the picnic bag from the car, he said he felt we should come out from where we were tucked into a corner and move somewhere more visible and busier. As a result, we ended up getting into a long conversation with a couple. They told us that they, too, had been thinking of leaving but then changed their minds because they believed there were some other people they still needed to meet. Praise God for moving upon them, too!

The lady shared that she was so thankful to learn she had been praying for the incorrect thing all these years - that she had been praying for the gift of tongues versus simply praying for the Holy Spirit anointing (and that she would simply start to speak in tongues as proof of being filled, as the Holy Spirit started to speak through her). It was a blessed end to the convention week!

There are so many God-minded people that are missing various pieces of the puzzle. We meet them in all kinds of places, from where we shop for groceries to where we go to relax and hang out. Here’s a sampling of the work the Lord has led us to recently:

1) Don met a lady outside a Dollar Tree store. He got chatting with her about life and discovered she is Spiritfilled but has only prayed in tongues sporadically. He offered to pray over her, to get her praying in tongues again, and to encourage her that it’s something she can (and should) do on a daily basis (see Jude Chapter 20). They prayed together, and apparently it was a great inspiration and help to her. Praise God!

2) Don was out for a morning ride to the gardens and got chased off by a grumpy family when he tried to talk with them. Because of that, though, he ended up heading to the lake dock for some quiet time and reflection. Shortly after Don sat down, a lady (who was already there on her own, on the other side of the dock) suddenly put down her phone, at which point Don struck up a conversation with her. Amazingly, she (Don found out later) had been wondering if God sent Don to talk with her (which is why she quickly put down her phone). She had specifically prayed that very morning for God to send someone to give her a message in answer to her struggles! Needless to say, when Don started talking about the Lord, she was “all ears.” Unfortunately, she was only on a brief break from work, so she couldn’t accept Don’s invitation to come back to pray with the rest of us, but we are keeping her in our prayers.

3) Don spied a couple in Trader Joe’s because of something Biblical on the husband’s t-shirt. He approached them to give them a card. They were happy to chat, and Don discovered that the husband is Spiritfilled, but the wife isn’t. Don asked the wife if she had ever been curious about speaking in tongues and she replied yes, especially whenever she hears her husband praying in the Holy Spirit. Don encouraged the husband to be proactive in helping his wife to be baptized with the Holy Spirit versus just water baptism. It was just a brief conversation for about 5-10 minutes, but we are praying that it had a profound affect upon both of them.

4) Don met another lady at the gardens who was reading a self-help book. Don commented that it was a lovely day to be studying in the park. She agreed and they struck up a conversation about what she was reading and why. She ended up coming back to meet all of us, to have a coffee and chat some more. She was keen for us to pray over her, which we did, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, after having been water baptized many years ago. The next day, she texted us a lovely message:

“Hi Don and Kaye, it was such a blessing and pleasure meeting you both and your wonderful children. You are all such a blessing and a gift to humanity. Having the gift of the Holy Spirit, I feel at peace and I am enjoying every minute of it. I’m reading the Book of Acts and it has many references to the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. I’ll get to reading the article next….”

5) The waitress at the cafe that I blogged about a while ago ended up coming over for coffee and a chat after work last Tuesday, and wow, it was an amazingly blessed time together. She experienced such a transformation that afternoon/evening that she was here for over six hours. We all enjoyed every minute of it as we witnessed her being taken by God through a momentous stage of repentance and submission, to water baptism, to being filled with the Holy Spirit, to praying in tongues eagerly and joyfully, and then rejoicing in the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit for the rest of our time together. Here’s one of the many beautiful texts she sent us:

“Good morning! I woke up with an almost “pinch me” type of moment that God was so real in my life last night! Giving thanks to him that I am a new person in Christ. Thanking him that he brought your wonderful family into my life!! God has given you all such a great heart in this life to serve him….”

The following (for the most part) is a copy of a text I sent to a sister in the Lord. It briefly summarizes a most amazingly full day we had for the Lord’s work last weekend. Please let us know if you’d like us to fill you in on any details — there’s simply too much to write in this post!

“. . . First, God used Don (on a morning bike ride) to pray with a Spiritfilled guy on the dock at the park, to get him praying in tongues again. Then, the couple we posted about in our previous Blog ended up coming over for coffee after all, and the wife received the Holy Spirit. I also got together with her the next day and we had a wonderful many hours together, talking about the Lord, sharing the Word, and generally getting to know one another.

Then, Don and I went looking for tiles, and the Holy Spirit miraculously led us — a longer story ; — to a parking lot where we felt moved to look for who God wanted us to speak with. We ended up praying over an older man (after first chatting with him a long time) who was heading back to his vehicle. Just before we prayed over him, however, a Hispanic family pulled up behind us. Don spied the message on the driver’s t-shirt and quickly gave him a card.

After we parted ways from the older man, we turned to head into a restaurant and end up walking right passed the same Hispanic family. The wife was glad because she said she was about to try to find us again. She invited us to a car meet that night, where they would be outreaching. When we clarified that our preaching is according to the Book of Acts, the wife’s eyes lit up. We ended up praying with her husband in the parking lot because he had yet to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He received, speaking in tongues, and they were both crying with joy.

Apparently, the wife (who has been Spiritfilled for many years) had been telling her husband — for four years! — that he wasn’t yet filled with the Holy Spirit. She totally saw our “running into them” as a miraculous answer to her prayers. In fact, at one stage, she had been told that speaking in tongues is not of God! And, her husband had said at the time, “I don’t ever want to hear tongues in this house!” Now, things are vastly different . . . !

The wife again invited us to the car meet, so we went, trusting that the Lord was continuing to orchestrate our day. Shortly after we arrived, we were praying over her sister-in-law and she was filled so powerfully. We also spoke to the small crowd of people that was gathered around afterward. By the time we left it was late, and although we were exhausted from preaching and praying all day, we were greatly rejoicing in the hand of our mighty God!”

A number of times we have run into a man and his beautiful dog at a local park. The time before last, Don had a great conversation with him about the misrepresentation of God in various church groups. At one point, the man’s wife had put together a detailed scripture-based document to present to their pastor at the time, to question various happenings in the fellowship that just didn’t seem right. Subsequently, the couple was asked to leave.

Don invited the man and his wife over for coffee, to look at more of the Word and to pray for the Holy Spirit anointing, but they never came. Then, I ran into the man again the other day. This time, he revealed some sad news - that his wife’s brain tumor has come back and is inoperable. I could instantly perceive how God had miraculously lined up yet another conversation (as I wasn’t meant to be at the park on that day), so I proceeded to share this with him along many encouraging words about healing and other promises in God’s Word, for those that lay hold.

I recounted some personal testimonies including my own healing, Don’s healings, and Manuel in Belize who was instantly healed of terminal bowel cancer, and I urged the man not to let the negatives of ‘Churchianity’ discourage him and his wife from receiving the message and opportunity for blessing that God was obviously bringing to them. The man said he would chat to his wife again, but we haven’t yet heard back.

Please pray for this couple. God is so mericful and continues to try to draw people to Him in humility and obedience, but at the end of the day, God doesn’t “do” for people - it has to be their own desire to, as the Bible says, take up their cross and follow after Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Another person we have run into again is a server at a local cafe. I had given her a ChristiansRule.com card a long while when we first relocated to the area. I think it came about because she saw the email address I was typing into the screen, to receive the purchase receipt. Given her church background, she recognized it was Bible-related, so she asked about it. We had a great yet very brief conversation at the time, at which point I learned that her mom is filled with the Holy Spirit and loves to pray tongues.

Since then, we have seen her a number of times at the cafe, but nothing ever worked out for us to continue the conversation until last week. Don and I went there for a brief snack while waiting to pick up Elisabeth from a library activity. It’s something we never do as I normally take Elisabeth to the library on my own and either attend class with her, or do office work on my phone, or head to the store. And, we had actually purposed to go to a different coffee shop, but we changed our mind.

Anyway, we got the server gal this time and got chatting with her about life. She didn’t recognize me at first and only clued in after she asked us where we had met as a couple. I replied, “Remember the card I gave you? Well, how Don and I met is related to that…” The gal’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she said she was so excited we had finally connected again. Apparently she had accidentally lost our card, but she had told her mother all about our original conversation, and she had been hoping to see us again to get another card. What’s even more amazing is that the gal’s mom had just finished visiting from Kentucky, and the both of them had had some very meaningful conversations about the Lord. The server gal could very much see God’s miraculous timing on things - with us turning up in her life again the very next day after chatting with her mother about her spiritual desires!

Yesterday, we had the urge to do something we haven’t done in a long time: go berry picking at a local farm. We were so determined to leave by 9:00am, but we didn’t get out of the door until 9:30, and half way on our drive there, we realized we’d forgotten to select “include toll roads” in our directions, so it took almost twice as long as it should have in order to get there. Nevertheless, we made the most of it as we always do when we’re together, reminiscing and laughing, praying and sharing thoughts, etc.

More than anything, we concluded that “maybe there was a reason” for our delays, especially since it’s very unusual for Don to mess up directions. We had a really fun time, picked way too many berries, enjoyed the live music, and soaked up the sun — some of us a little too much . . .

Nothing for the Lord’s work stood out for us, though, until just as we were leaving. There was a bit of a crowd exiting the farm at the time, and Ethan spied a young man about his own age wearing a t-shirt advertising his church. Ethan started up a conversation with him that turned into a deep scriptural discussion in the parking lot. We all joined in, exchanging scripture after scripture, and we finally discovered that both the young man and his wife can speak in tongues (so, have experienced the Holy Spirit anointing), but made a deliberate choice to no longer pray in tongues many years ago after their church made a collective decision to deny tongues. Apparently, at the time, many people were Holy Spirit filled and spoke in tongues, yet not everyone, and this eventually caused the leadership to change their outlook and direction for the entire congregation.

We tried our best to explain that if people only have a view of the Holy Spirit anointing and speaking in tongues as an “optional extra,” then you’re bound to end up with a group full of confusion and disunity, which will then lead to compromise in order to appease those that have not yet been filled with the Holy Spirit.

Don even encouraged the young couple, “Just simply be open minded that perhaps our conversation today is personally from the Lord to you both — so, even if you’re unsure about things at this point, just purpose to go and start praying in tongues again every day in your private lives and see what happens — and, lay hands on your disabled son (they have a toddler who is mentally handicapped) and pray over him in tongues in faith, and see how God’s miraculous hand starts to move upon him, too!” Yet, it was utterly heartbreaking to hear their resolute reply, “No, we’re not going to do that.”

We tried to encourage them both as much as they would listen to, but in the end, we just had to leave the situation in God’s hands. Deep down, I felt that they “got” what we were saying because they revealed there was a long period of their lives when they did understand and follow Scripture as we do, at least to a large degree. But, we can only do what God puts before us, and the rest we need to faithfully leave up to Him. We know God will to continue to move upon the young couple, to reinforce the message He gave us to share with them yesterday. I can imagine we’re not the only ones God has been using to try to help this couple understand how they are seriously quenching the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

Sometimes, God’s work is joyful and we get to share in the beautiful fruits, and other times it can be heartwrenching and frustrating. Yet, we maintain “the peace of God that passes all understanding” throughout it all, never let anything steal our joy, and most all, remain faithful to our calling no matter what.”

We were not sure about traveling south quite a ways for a Spring festival that was on last weekend, but no matter how many poor reviews we read about it, we still felt moved to go, especially Ethan. We decided to stop in at a grocery store before walking to the fairgrounds, to use the bathroom and possibly get some snacks. On the way in, Ethan noticed a lovely lady with a big bright smile selling craft items and other small goods from a makeshift retail stand outside of the store. He perceived that she might be fundraising for her church, but he wasn’t certain. On our way out, we needed to ask a question about parking, so Ethan felt moved to go over and ask her instead of a store employee.

The entire situation turned out to be completely orchestrated by the Lord as we all very quickly discovered that the lady is born again (of water and of the Holy Spirit) and regularly prays in tongues, but she needed some encouragement in terms of living what we have dubbed the “Book of Acts Empowered Christian Life.” It was an anointed conversation for sure, and it looked like she was holding back the tears — joyful tears :) — at the end.

The next morning, we each went for our indvidual walks or bike rides, etc. for some exercise and quiet prayer time. Ethan went to the local lake gardens, I went for a walk around the neighborhood, and Don headed off on his bike. Unplanned, he ended up at the same gardens as Ethan. As Ethan was praying on a benchseat off to the side, Don wandered around. As he did so, a couple of ladies (a mother and her young adult daughter) approached him to ask about the direction of the trail they were on.

I can’t remember how the conversation turned to the subject of the Lord. I think Don asked where they were from and because of this, he learned that the daughter had only come here temporarily to take a Christian ministry-related course, and the mom was visiting. Don said, “Well then, if you’re not busy, you’ll have to come back to the house, to meet the rest of the family!” So, we all met back at the house and spent most of the early afternoon talking about the Word and sharing our experiences.

Both ladies are born again, love praying in tongues, and are very zealous for Christ. We were able to help answer some of their questions and confusions that had never been resolved, and we encouraged them both that the Lord wants to grow their personal ministry, to walk in the fullness of the power and authority with which they have been anointed. To top it all off, we got to play some music upstairs before they had to leave. The daughter plays piano so beautifully, and Elisabeth got to share one of her pieces, too. It was a wonderfully blessed afternoon, again entirely orchestrated by God’s miraculous and gracious hand!

In addition to the above two blessings, there have been so many other opportunities to share some of the Word, or a message of encouragement, etc. with various people in different situations. For example, Don got chatting with a Spirit-filled couple in a grocery store, after he gave the husband a compliment. He then saw that the wife was wearing a t-shirt with a scripture printed on it. It was obvious by how the conversation progressed that God had set up the situation so that Don would encourage them to pray daily in tongues, among other things. Lots of situations similar to this pop up as we are running errands, dining out, hanging out, etc. The harvest is everywhere, and we are simply God’s messengers - what an honor it is to serve Him!

Catching you all up on some exciting things that have happened these last weeks . . .

1) Arts Festival, Scottish Festival, and other public events:

These are always perfect opportunities for interacting with all kinds of people. Everyone wants to be loved and have others show genuine interest in them. We love chatting with anyone and everyone (for the most part), and we wait upon the Lord to move upon those situations that He has set up. Sometimes we just plant a seed; sometimes we water a seed that has once been planted but needs sustenance; and at other times we end up praying with people off to the side somewhere, and/or they end up getting water baptized back at our place or wherever suits them. They key is remaining led by the Holy Spirit and being obediently flexible to whatever God puts before us. This is our calling and part of our reasonable service.

2) Church conventions:

When you’re solid in your faith and scriptural understanding of the full gospel salvation message, church-related conventions and events can also be where you might be called to the Lord’s work — maybe in a seemingly very small way (yet not small in the eyes of God!); maybe in a big way. We tend to hang around these events versus immersing ourselves in the teachings. Again, the key is to pray for the Lord’s leading; be in tune with the workings of the Holy Spirit; speak up when called to in the peace and love of God, yet also in the confidence and authority of Jesus Christ; and exercising faith in God’s anointing upon whatever He orchestrates by His hand. Remember: we are the messengers, and God is the One who gives the miraculous increase to whatever we say and do — it might not always accomplish what we hope it will, but God’s will will be done, always.

3) Neighbor’s Spiritfilled landscaper:

Don got chatting with one of our neighbor’s landscapers about lawn products. He found out he is already filled with the Holy Spirit but only prays in tongues at times, mostly during a “worship” service. Don encouraged him about the importance of consciously choosing to activate the gift of tongues on a daily basis, “building up ourselves on our most holy faith” (as described in Jude 20). Don and Ethan then prayed over him.

We meet so many Spiritfilled believers that are in similar situations where they’ve spoken in tongues a few times here and there, but have never had strong mentorship like the first disciples in the Book of Acts, and so they don’t realize they can pray in the language of the Holy Spirit as much as they can every day. They don’t realize that praying in tongues is not just for dedicated worship times; it’s also for whenever they want to communicate with their Father in Heaven throughout the course of their days.

Of course, we don’t freely pray in the Holy Spirit in public, but there are so many opportunities to be regularly prayerful toward God, to help us get through life. We imagine this was what was meant by the call to “pray without ceasing” in the Book of 1 Thessalonians!

4) Grocery store ministry :)

We regularly get chatting about the Lord with people while grocery shopping. Often the conversation starts when we spy a t-shirt or sweater they’re wearing (with a message about Jesus, or a church, or a church event, etc.). This is what happened to Ethan a couple of weeks ago. He got chatting with an older lady and her mother (who was wearing the t-shirt). The lady wanted to pray right then and there in the store aisle after Ethan shared with her some of our Church ministry experiences! Ethan encouraged her to finish up their shopping and then meet outside where it was a little quieter, so they could better focus on praying, which they did.

Afterward, the lady shared that her mother had asked whether or not she should wear her “Jesus t-shirt” given the recent persecution one man had experienced in the States, getting thrown out of a certain public place because of his overt promotion of Christianity. Her daughter (the lady Ethan prayed with) replied, “All the more why you should wear that t-shirt today!”

5) Home show vendor with spelling mistake on his booth signage:

While strolling around a home show event (prior to which we had prayed — for the Lord to clearly guide us to who He wanted us to share a message with), we spied a booth that had misspelled signage. At first, we thought it was maybe the surname of the company owners — “Christain.” But after we asked the booth operator, we realized it was a spelling mistake, so we pointed it out to him. This led to a beautifully anointed conversation which ended in us praying over him in a quite area of the convention hall.

Again, he was in the situation where he had been filled with the Holy Spirit when he was younger and had prayed in tongues a number of times since, yet he had a number of “gaps” in his scriptural understanding and application that God wanted brought to his attention. He is a super lovely, humble guy who had recently hired an old school friend who had become homeless, setting him up with not only employment but also an apartment to live in, etc. We pray God will continue to bless him mightily.

6) Cafe and civic park ministry :)

Whenever we’re dining out and enjoying our local parks and gardens, we’re always on the lookout (so to speak) for whatever God might be doing to further His Kindgom work upon this earth. After all, isn’t that what this life is all about when you’ve been called to service in the Lord’s spiritual army? We’re being used to fight for people’s souls, but we’ve found that the victories tend to come when God precedes us and sets things up for us.

This happened last weekend as we were dining on the patio of one of our favorite cafe restaurants. There were lots of people there, but there was one particular young lady that we all felt drawn to speak with. We never really got a clearly directed opportunity to chat, so on our bike ride home, Don (unbeknown to the rest of us) prayed that if he saw her again on our return through downtown, he would stop and inititiate conversation.

Off we all rode, and as we passed through the civic park, I saw the young gal sitting in a grassy patch. By the time I got to the end of the pathway, I couldn’t go any further - I felt that I just had to turn around to speak with her. So I did, and the others followed, except Don whom I noticed was already pulled up by the gal, chatting with her. I hadn’t realized he had been so far back, and obviously he had noticed her, too (and so was obedient to God’s answer to his earlier prayer!).

We all chatted with her for a very long time and ended up offering to pray over her to be filled with the Holy Spirit. She admitted she was a bit nervously afraid, but we encouraged her that it’s a normal feeling that many people experience because praying for the Holy Spirit anointing is stepping into the unknown in faith, and it’s very much a complete surrender of one’s self to God. Despite this, she pushed through the flesh (the body, the mind) and responded with a sweet following after God’s will. We moved to a quieter area of the park, to help her better focus on praying, and she received the Holy Spirit anointing, speaking in tongues, very quickly - yet very softly and gently, and so beautifully.

She even wanted to follow through on the fullness of God’s calling to be born again of both water (full immersion baptism) and of the Holy Spirit. So, we all rode back to our place (she had ridden to downtown on a bike, too) and Don baptized her in our bathtub (seeing that the pool is only half completed!). The rest of the evening was so joyful as she stayed for dinner and as we chatted more about life and the Lord.

We all spent the next evening together, too, as we took her out to dinner to enjoy some more fellowship and to share more of our experiences and understanding of the Word. We try to encourage our brethren to live the book of Acts life, too — to be “out and about” amongst people to whom God might be calling us to bring a message of hope and of power through Jesus Christ.

I have a few stories that I need to catch up on:

1) Remember the lady from the YMCA and the Jesus event, from our Dec 19th blog post? Well, I got to know her a bit better as we chatted after Y classes and also caught up for a play date with our daughters at the playground. I discovered that her husband was not yet filled with the Holy Spirit and that he, in fact, had quite a strong aversion to speaking in tongues. So, I offered that we should go on a double date together one night so that he could meet me and my husband, and so we could share our experiences with helping people to be born again. I declared to her that one of the biggest reasons God had brought us all together was so that they could return (to their home state later this year) united in their spiritual walk, both born again of water and of the Holy Spirit.

Well, praise God, we did go on that double date, and the husband was very attentive to everything we shared from the Word. Being an engineer/scientist, he had lots of great questions, too. Despite his hesitation in the flesh, he was willing to give God the opportunity to prove that what we were preaching is Truth, so at the end of the evening, we all went to the local outdoor courtyard to pray. As we laid hands on him, praying, he was filled with the Holy Spirit very quickly, speaking in tongues so clearly and fluently. He was shaking and very moved by the Lord. Afterward, he shared that he felt power like he never had before, and he told us he was seeing visions and glorious things as he prayed in the Holy Spirit (in tongues) for the very first time.

We had some more prayer together before we parted (as we try to do with every newly born again believer), to help him get even more comfortable with praying in tongues. His wife also prayed in the Holy Spirit with us both times, and it was such a joy to see them finally spiritually united. The husband even apologized to his wife with sincere repentance for overtly mocking tongues for many years (which had been a serious discouragement to her to pray regularly and freely in the Holy Spirit). It was such a testament to one of the biggest goals and works of the Holy Spirit — to convict people of sin and bring them to repentance, forgiveness, overcoming, and victory!

2) I received the following text the other day. We so very much love to hear how God is mightily using those that God has connected us with in the past — those He has sent us to preach to, pray over, bring a message to, encourage, etc. It’s so wonderful to see them go on to “lay hold” and carry on the work that Jesus started with the apostles in the Book of Acts. My dear sister in the Lord back in GA recently wrote:

“Hi Sis! I hope you are having a good day. Zorina and I just prayed for this lady to receive the Holy Spirit, and she DID. Hallelujah!!! She said she would be interested in joining the prayer group… She was the wife of a co-worker of Zorina’s. Zorina texted me this morning and asked if I could come over and pray with them for healing. We were able to preach to her, and the Holy Spirit moved. Thank you Lord! This made my day!!!”

3) A few weeks ago, Don heard some dogs barking out the front of our place, so he went outside to see what was going on. He ended up chatting with the owner of a gorgeous golden retriever. The owner was a super nice guy and our whole family ended up coming outside to meet him and his sweetheart (yet a little rambunctious) of a dog.

We all got along so well, so we ended up connecting again (here at the house) for coffee a week or so later, this time with his lovely wife. We chatted lots about our common interests, but God clearly directed the conversation toward Him and His Word. We had faith that this is what would happen when we invited them over!

Both the husband and wife are very passionate about the things of the Lord, each having had their own unique experiences growing up. But, as we do with everyone, we drew their attention to Acts 19:2, asking if they had been filled with the Holy Spirit since they believed. We chatted lots about the Bible and shared testimonies, but in the end we encouraged them to leave it up to the Lord to “give increase” to everything we shared with them.

It was great that they were both open to praying, to see what God would do. The husband received the Holy Spirit very quickly, speaking in tongues for the first time ever — and with the most clarity and ease that I’ve ever heard anyone speak! The wife struggled a little, mainly because of her inhibitions of praying openly around a group of people, so I offered for us to go somewhere more private and comfortable to seek the Lord together, just us two gals. It was then that she also began to speak in tongues fluently and confidently. We were both very relieved and so very joyful!

Praise God that our family has learned not to give up quickly, rather to fight through obstacles as they arise with patience, faith, love, and a peaceable confidence that the authority of Jesus Christ will bring about victory! It’s a spiritual battle for the souls of men and women on this earth, and we (and you, our born again brethren!) have been called to be soldiers in God’s army. What privilege; what power!

We keep praying for the Lord to continue sending workers to our home who are hungering for a closer relationship with Him, and God keeps answering miraculously! The construction on the pool is now about half complete (soon our baptismal tank will be ready, including a hot tub for winter time baptisms!) and, so far, Don has had lots of opportunity to share the Word with a variety of people. Each time, it is so clearly obvious that God orchestrated the conversations — a number of times, the workers themselves have commented to Don or amongst themselves, “See what God did - He made me/you come to work here today in order to hear this message!”

We have learned over our decades of Christian ministry that the Holy Spirit is constantly at work around people and within their lives, doing all kinds of things to try to bring them to a point of sincere humility and repentance and dependance on the Father through the blood of Jesus Christ; to a point where they will finally be born again and zealous to follow after the ways of their Savior. Even those that are already Spirit-filled often need to be awakened, fed, reminded and/or chastened. You see, the Holy Spirit is not the “doer,” He is the “helper,” and God often uses our family to bring a message to born again (yet spiritually weak) believers, too.

All of this work for the Lord is simply our reasonable service, and it’s just a portion of the multitude of ways God is working upon men, women, and even children, to help them toward eternal life with Him (for those who will obey God’s call). So, we simply wake up each day, looking to God to preceed us in all things, and trying our best to be obedient to whatever God does in our lives (individually, and as a family).

We had some travel points to use up which coincided with feeling led of the Holy Spirit to travel south for a few days, for a mini “Winging It!” trip. It was a perfect opportunity to reflect upon our growth in the Lord this last year, to focus our spiritual goals for 2023, and to see how God might use our time down there to touch others’ lives. And He did…!

While visiting a coffee shop bakery late one afternoon, a lady in the line up commented on my boots. This led to us asking if she was a local or just visiting like us, which soon led to her mentioning the word “Christian” in her conversation. Instantly, we realized things had been set up by the Lord, so we asked her where she goes to church. We ended up spending a long while chatting with her and showing her our latest “Winging It!” video. We could see that she wanted to pray, but she had a strong aversion to speaking in tongues given some past negative experiences. We left things with her, encouraging her to share the afternoon’s events with her husband (who, we discovered at that point, is actually filled with the Holy Spirit!).

We drove away, praying for the lady and her husband, that God would give increase to what we had just shared. Then, just as we were finishing up the prayer, the lady phoned us, inviting us over to their home to chat some more. We ended up staying until quite late into the night! We were also able to encourage her husband to pray daily in the Holy Spirit — to “turn up the dial” and keep it there. He knew exactly what we were talking about as he felt like he had gotten a bit out of line with God’s Word (as he put it), so He most definitely could see God’s miraculous hand upon us all coming together.

Then, after leaving the very same coffee shop bakery the next day (this time on a run/bike ride), we called into a clothing store on the way back to the hotel. I actually needed to use their bathroom, so while I did so, Don got chatting with the store manager. Somehow, he got chatting about our Christian ministry and discovered that the manager is filled with the Holy Spirit (but hasn’t spoken in tongues much at all over the years — discouraged by her parents’ religious traditions, which she was obviously brought up in).

Being the store manager, we asked her if she could spare about 7 minutes so we could inspire her with others’ testimonies from our latest video. She was very touched and, subseqeuntly, was keen to have us pray over her. So we went to her office, laid hands on her, and prayed. She was in tears as she prayed in tongues along with us, after which she shared that it was God’s miraculous timing give some things that had happened between her and her husband the night before.

We also stopped in to say goodbye to her after we checked out of the hotel the next day, on our way back home. We never really know how much of an impact we have had on people’s lives, as the Lord’s vessels for His Kingdom’s work upon this earth. All we can do, for the most part, is pray that God continues to build upon the work He has called us to do for a time — often for just a very brief period of time! Nevertheless, these moments can be the catalyst for miraculous change, overcoming, and growth in the lives we are sent to touch on His behalf.

Finally, on our drive home, Don felt led to stop by the offices of our favorite brand of coffee. We don’t drink a lot of coffee, and a while ago we found one that’s organic and very “clean.” For some time, Don has been wanting to call in to check them out, and this trip “happened” to provide a perfect opportunity for this to occur. Interestingly (God’s hand!), the manager that Don had spoken with last time was off on vacation, so we got to meet the General Manager instead. What was initially meant to be a brief “hello” and quick tour of the facilities turned into much more…

While chatting to him, he mentioned the words, “God willing…” So a little later, we asked if he was a Bible-believing man. This turned into a wonderful conversation. We took a break to give him a chance to complete some office tasks, telling him to text us when he was done. He did, and when we returned we sat for a long time, discussing the Word, encouraging him, and having prayer together. His mother and his wife’s mother are both filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, so he is familiar with this to some degree. We purposed to catch up again very soon, this time with his wife and kids, so we can hopefully baptize and pray for them all.

I simply love the way God works — the Holy Spirit constantly moves on us to go here or there, to do this or that, and during these natural circumstances of our lives, God’s work gets accomplished! — By the Holy Spirit, through Jesus, unto the Father, within God’s Kingdom.

We’re finally getting the pool added, yay! Lord willing, this will open the way for more baptisms! In the meantime, we seem to be ministering mostly to people who have already been water baptized unto Jesus Christ, and even to people who already have the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit (yet don’t pray in the Holy Spirit - in tongues - very often).

This was the case yesterday when Don got chatting with the tradesman that came to demolish the side stucco fence, to make way for the bobcat operator who is due to start next week. Don started chatting with him about his home country (Haiti) where he’s actually a qualified lawyer. Don sensed a God consciousness about him which led to Don sharing our latest “Winging It!” video with him.

Don ended up praying over the man, to get him comfortable with praying in tongues any time (we don’t pray openly in public, of course), and Don encouraged him to start drawing nigh to the Lord and His Word more than ever. Sometimes we only get a short amount of time like this with people, but we don’t let it discourage us from doing whatever work (for the Lord) we can in the situation, to make the most of any available opportunity.

Don in particular gets lots of opportunity to share the Word here while he’s out and about. So many people are receptive to his funny comments and caring gestures, which opens the door to Him sharing with Word with them somehow, some way. Every situation is different.

The Y, however, has been an interesting one. It’s one of the places where Don has felt led not to do anything deliberate and just to wait for God to put undoubtedy obvious situations in his path, for him to respond to in obedience. The Lord has done a number of things already (some of which we have blogged about already), but this week was particularly interesting…

Don was focused on his workout when two men loudly and continuously chatted right next to him, mentioning things like church and Bible study, and some hurt from other church-goers. It got to the point where Don just had to open his mouth in response to what God was obviously putting before him. Even though Don carefully and kindly came from the angle of “the healing and overcoming power of the Holy Spirit,” the discussion didn’t go very well.

However, while Don patiently endured the two men’s passionate objections, a third (younger) man was listening in who joined the chat at the very end. Even though the first two men soon left, the third one wanted to know more. Don invited him to call upon us to set up a time to pray, but the man persisted and wanted to pray right there at the gym! So, Don and Ethan found a quiet spot in one of the empty rooms and they laid hands on him. The guy began speaking in tongues and was quite taken aback to discover that what Don had been talking about is actually real!

Please pray for him as he has some struggles that he needs to commit to overcoming by now using the power of the Holy Spirit that he experienced for the first time the other day. And, this is what it comes down to for us all i.e. the Holy Spirit is the Helper, not the “doer,“ so it always depends on us and our daily choices. It’s when we choose correctly that the Holy Spirit then supports us through our walk in the Lord.

I lost an earring while hanging out with our family at the civic park, so the next day I decided to drive over there after my exercise class, to see if I could find it. When I arrived, Don was already there trying to find it for me! He texted (as I drove by looking for a car parking spot on the extremely busy avenue) to tell me not to bother trying to park and to carry on with my day, if I wanted to. So, I decided to take Elisabeth to the playground instead seeing that we were already out and not that far away from the park. We stayed for a while, and as I was about to tell Elisabeth that we should head home, I heard another mother talking to someone on her cell phone. She seemed a little distressed, and I sensed that something was wrong with her vehicle, perhaps that she had locked her keys in the car.

I asked her outright if that was the case, and she said yes. I texted Don to see if he could pop by to try to help out, and he was very glad to oblige. It turned into a long afternoon of trying various options between us and the mother’s own contacts, but we got a chance to share with her some of the Word together with a few personal testimonies. She had never even heard of speaking in tongues before despite having gone to church for many years! It was interesting to discover that she hadn’t at all planned to come to this particular playground this day, and that she normally only ever takes her kids to another park. I shared with her that I, too, am normally never at this playground on a Tuesday afternoon and that I only happened to be there because of having attempted to look for my lost earring.

The beautiful thing was that in the end, the mother discovered that her car insurance would cover the cost of a locksmith service, which she proceeded to book, and Don got to have a great chat about the Lord with the serviceman while he worked on the mother’s vehicle. I wasn’t there at the time, but apparently he was very keen to take a card and look into things further. So, praise the Lord, yet again seemingly negative incidences led to the furtherance of the Kingdom’s work upon this earth, in more ways than one!

One morning at the Y, Don got chatting with a couple. They were resting near where he placed his water bottle for a moment. Don asked the lady about her accent and that began a long conversation about life, health, children, and parenting, etc. As Don shared his thoughts on the various subjects, the couple were wide-eyed with enthusiasm. In the end, they excitedly expressed that they’d never met someone who shared the same ideals and goals, and that they could both do with a mentor in their lives to help them over a few hurdles.

Don was happy to learn that both the husband and wife were Spiritfilled, praying in tongues, so he invited them over to our place, to meet the rest of us and to chat more. They came last Friday afternoon and we spent the whole evening with them, excitedly talking about the Lord and His Word, sharing stories, and praying. Elisabeth did a great job of taking care of their lovely 4-year-old boy the entire evening, to give us space to get to know one another and to offer the parents lots of encouragement and inspiring testimonies.

We’re keeping in touch with them, and it was wonderful to see them join our Thursday night global prayer group tonight. They are a beautiful little family that have a strong heart for the Lord, and it is such a pleasure to be used by God to touch their lives in a positive way.

Some highlights from this month so far…

1) Don spied a gal wearing a “Jesus” t-shirt in one of Elisabeth’s YMCA classes. So, after my workout, I waited outside for Elisabeth to exit her class, hoping to “run into” the gal with the t-shirt. I did, and after I commented on her shirt, we got chatting about church. I discovered that she is filled with the Holy Spirit but hasn’t prayed in tongues in a very long while. We chatted a little more, sharing some encouragement and scriptures, and then we offered to pray over her (to help her to get her walk with the Lord “fired up” again), which we did. Then, as Don and I were walking back through the building…

2) Don noticed a lady with an open Bible in front of her, sitting at one of the high-top tables. By the time Don told me and I registered what he shared with me, we had already walked past her quite a ways. I was tempted not to bother, but I thought, “No, I’m not going to let my flesh get in the way!” So, I pulled out a card from my carry pouch and headed back to talk with her. By the time I got there, I saw that she was on the phone, so I placed the card on top of her Bible and smiled at her. She smiled back in appreciation, and that was all that happened that day. But… (see #5 below for the second part of the story).

3) We decided to go to a big Jesus event that was being held in the area, to see what work we could do for the Lord among the crowds. It was our first time doing this, we had no specific plan, and we had no idea what to expect. So, we waited until the evening free entry session and simply hung out around the outside of the stadium where all of the food trucks, restrooms, and heat lamps were - somewhere where it was slightly quieter and more opportunistic for conversations (versus inside the stadium where everyone was engrossed in the event). We wandered around as we felt led by the Lord, and the first young married couple we got chatting to ended up getting filled with the Holy Spirit!

We approached them to ask about the ice cream they were eating and then proceeded to ask them about the event. This led to chatting about the church they attend in their city which then turned into deeper scriptural discussion. Soon, we asked them if they wanted us to pray over them to receive the Holy Spirit anointing. They were keen, so we walked over to a quiet(er) spot and prayed, and they both received, speaking in tongues for the very first time in their lives. They both seemed visibly changed, especially the wife. It was beautiful to see.

We spent some more time encouraging them and sharing some more scriptures, emphasizing that now they are born of both water (they had already been water baptized) and of the Holy Spirit, they are fully empowered, anointed by God, to go forth and do as we do in terms of helping others to be born again. We also encouraged them to pray in tongues every day, both as a married couple and individually. Then…

4) We continued to wander around the perimeter of the event, seeking to be led of the Holy Spirit. We felt moved to hang out by the outdoor heaters, so we stood warming our hands, considering who the Lord might guide us to speak to.

Don got chatting with a couple of young men standing next to us. He asked them some questions related to what they had been discussing. One of the young men (Aaron) explained he’d been led of the Lord to come down from up north to stay in the area for two and half months (not just for the duration of the event). We discovered he was already water baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit, and he was keen to hear what we had to share with him. Aaron’s friend left early on in the conversation to go join the worship that was happening in the arena area, so the rest of us went to chat behind one of the marquees.

Aaron was very passionate about the Lord, so we ended up spending quite a few hours together, sharing experiences and discussing scripture. We spent so long chatting that we all started to get quite hungry, especially Elisabeth, so I took her over to the wood fired pizza food tent. As we were waiting for our order….

5) Elisabeth noticed a lady standing behind us that was familiar - it was the very same lady I gave the card to in #2 above! Elisabeth recognized her from one of her classes at the YMCA. We walked over to chat with her and she was just as surprised to see us as we were to run into her - especially given that there were thousands of people at the event! We all agreed that it must be God’s miraculous intervention, and I quickly realized why after asking her a couple of questions about the event and her walk with the Lord.

It turned out that she was Spiritfilled but had been discouraged from speaking in tongues by a certain group of people in the past. It made her question whether or not it was truly of God. She said she preferred to sing in tongues (which is mentioned in the Book of Corinthians) versus speaking in tongues, so I offered that we could pray over her, to help her to get comfortable with praying in the Holy Spirit, and to overcome the doubts and fears that had been “planted” in her mind and heart.

She was volunteering at the event and didn’t have a lot of time to spare, so we quickly joined the others behind the marquee, so we could all lay hands on her and pray. She prayed along with us all in the Holy Spirit really clearly and fluently, praise God! We offered as much encouragement and support as we could before she had to leave, but we purposed to stay in touch and get together again very soon. I’m still amazed at God’s miraculous hand and such perfect timing!